Titans fall to Elmira in shootout

Titans forward Kelly Zajac summed it up perfectly, but he certainly wasn’t the reason that Trenton managed to turn a 3-1 lead into a 5-4 shootout loss to the Elmira Jackals on Friday night at the Sun National Bank Center.

In fact, he scored both of the Titans’ final two tallies on the evening. But between Trenton’s third and fourth goal of the game, Zajac admitted that the team was once again sitting back on its heels with a lead, and it was pretty hard to disagree with him after witnessing an 80 second stretch in the second period where the Jackals erased their two-goal deficit.

“We’re up 3-1, we can’t be giving those two goals up like that,” he said.“We didn’t give (them) much, but we gave them some easy plays and they capitalized. We’ve got to bear down in our D zone and really communicate and keep things simple, but on those plays, we didn’t. =We just let them slide, and they scored.”

It was Elmira who seemed to set the tone early, when ex-Titans defenseman Jordon Southorn beat Trenton netminder Scott Wedgewood from the slot just nine minutes into the first period. But J.S. Berube — who played a fantastic game in his Titans return — Connor Goggin and Zajac ticked off three straight goals within a stretch of 6:25 in the second period to get Trenton out to what seemed to be an insurmountable 3-1 lead at the time. But, as has all too often been the case this year, it didn’t last.

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Matt Carter pulled the Jackals to within one on a huge defensive breakdown by Trenton, also commonplace this season. Elmira winger Tyler Noseworthy curled up the left wing corner boards and managed to find Carter somehow all alone in front. All Carter had to do was stuff the puck past Wedgewood, who had no chance on the play, and it was suddenly a one-goal game again. And it would only take 80 seconds for the game to be tied once again as well.

A smart drop pass at the right wing side of the red line by Chaz Johnson started a pretty play, picked up by Andrew Rowe and finished off by Kyle Bushee, who threaded the puck past a sliding Wedgewood to ultimately send the teams tied, 3-3, into their respective dressing rooms after 40 minutes of play.

“You see when we take it to them, they can’t touch us down low,” Zajac said.

“But when we’re up with the lead, we sit back and we let them make plays in our D zone and create opportunities and get shots...I think it’s just a mentality thing. Guys want to win, and guys care about the game, but 90 percent of it is mental.”

The teams traded goals late in the third period; ex-Trenton forward Jordan Pietrus potted a shorthanded goal with just 7:20 to play in regulation, but Zajac took advantage of a brutal turnover and beat a stunned Clermont with 4:38 remaining that eventually sent the game into overtime.

After a scoreless five minute extra session, Clermont stopped all four Titans’ he faced in the shootout, while Carter and Pietrus both beat Wedgewood to give the Jackals the extra point in the standings.

NOTES: Before the game, the Titans traded for goaltender Brooks Ostergard. The 25-year-old, now on his fourth ECHL team of the season, comes from Kalamazoo, where he was stuck behind starter Joel Martin, who had been on the ice for the opening faceoff for 40 straight games. Williams did not rule out Ostergard getting one of the games against Reading today or Sunday afternoon...Trenton defenseman Paul Cianfrini (foot) is unlikely to play this weekend, while forward Doug Clarkson (hand) was listed as day-to-day by head coach Vince Williams. Mike Ullrich (back), meanwhile, is out at least another week.